I changed it depending on the type of court and obviously, location. I did mention an interest in improving my legal writing in my cover letter to judges (mostly to indicate that I understood the kind of work I was being asked to do). I don't think that mattered much though. As long as your cover letter is coherent and explains why you are interested in what the judge does and where they work, that should get you some interviews.

rucoach wrote:I have to agree, that's pretty solid advice. I wonder why CS (at least where I am, and I think at a lot of other places) still recommend snail mailing everything. It seems like e-mail is more efficient for the student and probably for the employer (they can forward multiple copies of documents to the necessary people).

Probably because judges get hundreds of applications, and don't want clerks or judicial assistants to spend the time printing out all of them. A lot of judges do everything by hard copies so that's why they want you to do give them the hard copies right off the bat.

I also wouldn't put the grade on it, they'll want to see all of your grades if they're interested and just about all applicants have good grades already, it's basically assumed.

how bad is it if I dont get an on spot offer from the federal judge? sigh .... at one point I thought I had nailed it : as one of the law clerks show me around he introduced me to one of those people and said "hey, this is XXX, for this summer with us" or something.

When I met with the judge he said he'd let me know in 2 weeks.

one of the big questions he asked me was that if I suddenly got an offer from a federal judge in the state where I live, how would I respond? would I take that offer or his offer (in a completely new city in New York) ?? then we discussed housing and stuff and i told him how affordable it is to live in this city when compared with the one in which Im now living. and he wowed at the housing in my city.

at the end of the meeting I told him that I wouldn't want to turn down other judges' offers and this is my top choice, he said okay he would let me know one week or no more than 10 days ....

based on the on-spot offers I gathered from this board, I really have lost hope ....

i am in your situation too and don't know what to think, especially since i interviewed with the judge directly. he gave me no timetable and only said they make their decisions on a rolling basis. then he said that if i were to get an offer from another judge, to call them and let them know and they would "expedite their process." whatever that means.

i am pretty sad on this. I travelled all the way from one city to another - though I agreed to do so ....but he and the clerks did talk like they are going to work with me soon.does making on spot offers or not really depend on the judge's practice and nothing to do with the candidate's performance??? I did pretty fine today .... and they all said my writing sample was superb ....

oh well joyce you are from michigan? so I think it's nothing to do with your calibre ..... and hopefully nothing to do with my calibre.

could it be that the judges somehow worry that we will withdraw our acceptances??? He kept saying that suppose ... suppose you got an offer in your "home city" ..... would you still prefer oursss???? but hey! he's a new york federal judge !! then I ended up trying to convince him how preferable it is to live in his city.

somehow I do wonder what's with all these application processes. A while ago I interviewed for a spring internship and the woman said she'd get back to me within the next week. At the beginning of the next week out of curiosity I jotted her an email and she replied right back and offered me the internship. I wondered how long it would take her if I did not write her that email.

joyce615 wrote:i am in your situation too and don't know what to think, especially since i interviewed with the judge directly. he gave me no timetable and only said they make their decisions on a rolling basis. then he said that if i were to get an offer from another judge, to call them and let them know and they would "expedite their process." whatever that means.

but I think if you do get an offer from another judge that judge mighth not expect you to think over it twice!!

didi wrote:i am pretty sad on this. I travelled all the way from one city to another - though I agreed to do so ....but he and the clerks did talk like they are going to work with me soon.does making on spot offers or not really depend on the judge's practice and nothing to do with the candidate's performance??? I did pretty fine today .... and they all said my writing sample was superb ....

In my experience it's a judge's personal preference and I'd say it's more common to not get an on the spot offer than to get one (but that could be just particular judges I interviewed with).

bobjr wrote:I've got an interview with a federal district ct judge in a couple of days-- did you guys read any of the opinions written by the judges you guys interviewed with beforehand?

I've got an interview next week, and I plan on reading a few recent opinions over the weekend, just to get an idea of what perspectives and factors the judge is interested in. I'm not sure I'll bring them up in the interview (seeming like a kiss-ass = bad), but the insight will be useful (I hope).

1. The judge is not going to expect you read their opinions. Just be ready to talk with them about why law, why their court, why work for a judge, what courses interested you, etc. And know your resume and be ready to speak intelligently about whatever is on there.

2. Don't forget the clerks. They are probably the first people you will meet, and they will chat you up. They are also assessing if they want to spend the summer with you, and will probably get in a few words with the judge before you enter their chambers. Make a good impression. Also, be nice to the secretaries and every other member of the support staff.

I am afraid that the clerks did not have a good impression of me ... but in my case, they did not have a chance to tlk to the judge before I met him. (but it was they who talked like they had me for summer already)

come to think of it, I would actually find it weird if the judge offered me a place on spot ...

Norlan wrote:what's the general requirement for getting a judicial internship in the first year?

based on grades from UG and LSAT score?

Where's the best place to apply for such job? your local/state court website?

Based mostly on the strength of your interview, now that its been long enough that people have grades they matter too, and the prestige of your school. I don't see how your UG GPA and LSAT would get you hired, aside from listing whatever honors you graduated with from UG on a resume a potential employer wouldn't be getting that information to consider anyhow.

You apply by looking up the address of the courthouses you're interested in, the names of the judges you would work for that sit in that courthouse, and then send off some resumes and cover letters. I didn't apply to any state or local courts, but I haven't heard of anyone using an online application system for judicial internships.

Man, it never even occurred to me that one might use actual paper. I'd happily pretend I'd never heard that, but e-mail addresses don't seem to be available anyway. Now I'll have to buy stamps and envelopes and locate a mailbox.

Are magistrate judges viable, or do they have much less interesting cases (or lower loads so as to not want interns)?

Hitachi, someone in this thread mentioned that they called judges' chambers to find out if they could submit by email. I tried this, and found a few (very few) judges who were willing to accept applications by email. Law clerks seemed to be more likely to say an e-mailed app was acceptable.

Gators08 wrote:You apply by looking up the address of the courthouses you're interested in, the names of the judges you would work for that sit in that courthouse, and then send off some resumes and cover letters. I didn't apply to any state or local courts, but I haven't heard of anyone using an online application system for judicial internships.

Do you simply just pick whichever judge you would like to work with and start contacting the judge that you're interested in working under him/her?

Gators08 wrote:You apply by looking up the address of the courthouses you're interested in, the names of the judges you would work for that sit in that courthouse, and then send off some resumes and cover letters. I didn't apply to any state or local courts, but I haven't heard of anyone using an online application system for judicial internships.

Do you simply just pick whichever judge you would like to work with and start contacting the judge that you're interested in working under him/her?

Where did you apply to, btw?

Yup, write a cover letter that you are interested in a summer internship with the judge and mail it off with your resume.

I sent out about 80 resumes/cover letters without contacting chambers. 7-8 Grade requests, 5 or so interview requests, 1 actual rejection letter and the rest were MIA. That was all basically within about 2 weeks. Of the MIA ones, I know people who they did contact for interviews, so my gut tells me you could call to check up, but no response at the 3 week mark I think pretty much means hiring full/never was hiring in the first place/not interested.

Da Stain wrote:I sent out about 80 resumes/cover letters without contacting chambers. 7-8 Grade requests, 5 or so interview requests, 1 actual rejection letter and the rest were MIA. That was all basically within about 2 weeks. Of the MIA ones, I know people who they did contact for interviews, so my gut tells me you could call to check up, but no response at the 3 week mark I think pretty much means hiring full/never was hiring in the first place/not interested.

I think this is right. Not to be a dick, but if you (Oblomov) didn't get a call after a few weeks, I'd assume you're not getting one. My own numbers went something like this - out of about 60 applications (to the 2nd and 9th Circuits, and SDNY) I got calls requesting interviews from about 7. I did interviews with 2, got 2 offers, and chose 1. My point is that you've really got to send out a ton of applications to get a decent return for interview requests, and if you're a so-so student or at a non-"top" school, you likely are going to have to extend applications beyond the NYC, DC, LA, or SF markets.

thedogship wrote: Not to be a dick, but if you (Oblomov) didn't get a call after a few weeks, I'd assume you're not getting one. . . . My point is that you've really got to send out a ton of applications to get a decent return for interview requests, and if you're a so-so student or at a non-"top" school, you likely are going to have to extend applications beyond the NYC, DC, LA, or SF markets.

No offense taken. The rest of your message though, therein lies the pisser: I do go to one of these alleged "top schools," none of my apps was for what I'd consider to be a highly competitive market and they don't have any way to know that I am a so-so student. I only sent out about 20 for these reasons.

Must have been the limerick cover letter printed on pastel paper --knew I should have gone with a haiku.

It's really a crap shoot, as far as I could tell. I got my job mostly because of where I went to undergrad. Judge was an alum and that was the bulk of our interview. Almost like it didn't matter if I went to Columbia or Cooley for law school. One of the judges I never heard from interviewed 2 female classmates.

Also keep in mind, a "less competitive market" may also have simply fewer spots that were filled up by early December. I thought Baltimore wouldn't have been a problem for a UVA kid sending stuff the first week of December. Then I got an actual rejection letter saying he was done with hiring. So I looked, and Judge went to Maryland, and I'm sure simply had hired a few MD kids already.